uglygoat
Well-Known Member
i've done four batches of malt extract/grain steep brews. i threw the pail to the side after the first batch tasted like the pail a little too much for me, that or some funk got in it, and bought a 6.5 gal glass fermentor, and two 5 gallon glass carboys to age in. the beer i've racked outta the glass fermentor into the carboys tastes ten times better than the stuff outta the pail and into the bottles, even after the bottles have set for three weeks (agian, i think i funked that plastic pail batch up somehow....)
i'm not too thrilled with the price of malt extract, liquid or dried, i end up spending close to thirty bucks for a five gallon recipe of malt extract and some specialty grains and hopps and yeast. the malt extract being the most expensive and similiar in price, both dried and liquid. and i am not completely sold that the extract is always of the finest quality.
grain seems the cheaper, but the more complicated way to go. i am really interested in making my beer from 'scratch' rather than some hyper-processed extract, even though the results can and have been good. it's too much like makings cookies from a box, rather than getting your flour and sugar and such and combining them yourself. it's the purest in me, i'd grow my own crops if i had the land and didn't really have to have a real job to pay bills etc...
so i need some advice and support to get this venture started. i've read over the all grain method in the 'complete joy' book and pecked around online, but was looking for some hands on accounts by folks here. how much more complicated is it really as opposed to the entry/intermediate level of brewing i've been doing? can you give me a quick run down of the basics that you feel important etc. how do you do it? or point me to a crediable reference that you've found helpful.
i'm not too thrilled with the price of malt extract, liquid or dried, i end up spending close to thirty bucks for a five gallon recipe of malt extract and some specialty grains and hopps and yeast. the malt extract being the most expensive and similiar in price, both dried and liquid. and i am not completely sold that the extract is always of the finest quality.
grain seems the cheaper, but the more complicated way to go. i am really interested in making my beer from 'scratch' rather than some hyper-processed extract, even though the results can and have been good. it's too much like makings cookies from a box, rather than getting your flour and sugar and such and combining them yourself. it's the purest in me, i'd grow my own crops if i had the land and didn't really have to have a real job to pay bills etc...
so i need some advice and support to get this venture started. i've read over the all grain method in the 'complete joy' book and pecked around online, but was looking for some hands on accounts by folks here. how much more complicated is it really as opposed to the entry/intermediate level of brewing i've been doing? can you give me a quick run down of the basics that you feel important etc. how do you do it? or point me to a crediable reference that you've found helpful.